High-temperature oxidation failure in reactivity-initiated accidents; An Evaluation of failure criteria based on oxygen concentration from the previous NSRR experiments

Luu, V. N.; Taniguchi, Yoshinori; Udagawa, Yutaka; Katsuyama, Jinya

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 442, p.114222_1 - 114222_15, 2025/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2025.114222

Numerical study of initiating phase of core disruptive accident in small sodium-cooled fast reactors with negative void reactivity

Ishida, Shinya; Fukano, Yoshitaka; Tobita, Yoshiharu; Okano, Yasushi

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(5), p.582 - 594, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2243949

Evaluation of thermal expansion reactivity feedback effect in water-moderated fuel-particle-dispersion system

Fukuda, Kodai

Proceedings of 4th Reactor Physics Asia Conference (RPHA2023) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2023/10

Brief evaluations were performed using the N-F model to quantitatively clarify the effect of thermal expansion on the consequences of criticality accidents in the water-moderated fuel-particle-dispersion system. The analysis clarified that ignoring thermal expansion can lead to underestimation or overestimation of the consequences by several tens of percent. It is concluded that evaluators can ignore the thermal expansion when they evaluate the consequences of the prompt supercritical transient in water-moderated solid fuel-dispersion systems, such as fuel debris systems. Only the Doppler effect can be considered when the fuel-temperature-feedback coefficient is prepared. However, depending on the required accuracy, the evaluators should take care of the error caused by ignoring thermal expansion.

Fission gas release from irradiated mixed-oxide fuel pellet during simulated reactivity-initiated accident conditions; Results of BZ-3 and BZ-4 tests

Kakiuchi, Kazuo; Udagawa, Yutaka; Amaya, Masaki

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 155, p.108171_1 - 108171_11, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108171

Analytical study of SPERT-CDC test 859 using fuel performance codes FEMAXI-8 and RANNS

Taniguchi, Yoshinori; Udagawa, Yutaka; Amaya, Masaki

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 139, p.107188_1 - 107188_7, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.107188

Subcriticality-from basics to apprications, 4; Criticality safety and subcriticality

Yamane, Yuichi

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi ATOMO, 62(1), p.42 - 46, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.3327/jaesjb.62.1_42

The combination of philosophy and technology to keep safety against the risk specific to the facility containing nuclear fuel materials is criticality safety. The first target of criticality safety is to keep subcriticality. Its essence is to make the subcriticality condition clear and to keep that condition. Criticality safety control utilizes the leak and absorption of neutrons. From the view point of the improvement of risk assessment, it is expected to study the relation between inhomogeniety and subcriticality condition.

Behaviors of high-burnup LWR fuels with improved materials under design-basis accident conditions

Amaya, Masaki; Udagawa, Yutaka; Narukawa, Takafumi; Mihara, Takeshi; Taniguchi, Yoshinori

Proceedings of Annual Topical Meeting on Reactor Fuel Performance (TopFuel 2018) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2018/10

A Study on self-terminating behavior of sodium-concrete reaction

Kawaguchi, Munemichi; Doi, Daisuke; Seino, Hiroshi; Miyahara, Shinya

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 53(12), p.2098 - 2107, 2016/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2016.1199979

A sodium concrete reaction (SCR) is one of the important phenomena to cause the structural concrete ablation and the release of H gas in the case of sever accident of sodium cooled fast reactors. In this study, the long-time SCR test had been carried out to investigate the self-termination mechanism. The results showed the SCR terminated even if the enough amount of Na remained on the concrete. The quantitative data were collected on the SCR terminating such as temperature and H generation. The reaction products, which became the small solids in liquid Na were transferred with slurry state by generated H bubbles. Though the Na transfers actively and ablated the concrete surface with the high H generation rate, the mass exchange coefficient defined as decreased and the reaction products settled gradually with decreasing the H generation rate. Therefore, the Na concentration decreased at the reaction front and resulted in the SCR terminating naturally.

The Evaluation of the influence of hydride rim and biaxial stress condition on the cladding failure under a reactivity-initiated-accident by using EDC test method

Shinozaki, Takashi; Mihara, Takeshi; Udagawa, Yutaka; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki; Amaya, Masaki

JAEA-Research 2014-025, 34 Pages, 2014/12

JAEA-Research-2014-025.pdf:6.05MB

EDC test is a test method on the mechanical property of fuel cladding tube, and it focuses on the stress condition generated by PCMI under a RIA. We conducted EDC tests which simulate the mechanical conditions during a RIA by using the unirradiated cladding tubes which simulate hydride rim. Circumferential residual strains observed in post-test specimens tended to decrease with increasing the hydrogen concentration in the test cladding tubes and the thickness of the hydride rim. We also prepared RAG tube and performed EDC tests on it. It was observed that circumferential total strains at failure tended to decrease with increasing pre-crack depth on the outer surface of RAG tube specimen. We conducted biaxial stress tests by applying longitudinal tensile load onto RAG tube specimens. It was observed that circumferential total strains at failure under biaxial stress conditions tended to decrease compared to the results under uniaxial tensile condition.

Core dynamics analysis of control rod withdrawal test in HTTR (Contract Research)

Takada, Eiji*; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Shimakawa, Satoshi; Nojiri, Naoki; Fujimoto, Nozomu

JAERI-Tech 2004-048, 60 Pages, 2004/06

JAERI-Tech-2004-048.pdf:4.18MB

The HTTR (High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor), which has thermal output of 30MW, coolant inlet temperature of 395C and coolant outlet temperature of 850C/950C, is a first high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) in Japan. The HTGR has a high inherent safety potential to accident condition. Safety demonstration tests using the HTTR are underway in order to demonstrate such excellent inherent safety features of the HTGR. The reactivity insertion test demonstrates that rapid increase of reactor power by withdrawing the control rod is restrained by only the negative reactivity feedback effect without operating the reactor power control system, and the temperature transient of the reactor is slow. The best estimated analyses have been conducted to simulate reactor transients during the reactivity insertion test. A one-point core dynamics approximation with one fuel channel model is applied to this analysis. It was found that the analytical model for core dynamics could simulate the reactor power behavior.